Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 22
AI: Summary ©
The history and actions of the European Empire have faced challenges, including the decline of their military power and challenges faced by military members. The success of Islam is greater than wealth, pleasure, and spirituality, and the deception of the Islamist movement. The group emphasizes acceptance, gratitude, and human interaction as factors that contribute to achieving human goals. The conversation also touches on the struggles of those with lost loved ones and their families and the importance of human spirituality and the deception of the Islamist movement.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, Praise be to
Allah, Praise be to Allah, we praise him,
we ask for his help, we ask for
his forgiveness, we believe in him, and we
believe in him, and we seek refuge in
Allah from the evil of our souls and
from the evil of our deeds, whoever Allah
guides, there is no misguider for him, and
whoever He misguides, there is no guide for
him, and we bear witness that there is
no god but Allah, alone, no partner for
Him, and we bear witness that Muhammad is
His servant and Messenger.
The best hadith is the book of Allah,
and the best guide is the guide of
Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him, and the worst of things is what
happens to it, and every event is a
creation, and every creation is a misguidance, and
every misguidance is like a fire.
We started with Surah Tawbah yesterday, we concluded
the first three passages, and we're going on
with the fourth.
As we said, the way these passages are
organized within the surah itself, their revelation or
the sequence of their revelation was a little
different, was quite different actually.
The two that we just concluded, Rukoo number
2 and Rukoo number 3, were pre-conquest.
Prior to the conquest of Mecca, those are
the ayats being revealed.
The first Rukoo was after the conquest, around
9th Hijri, and this again, Rukoo number 4,
is going to be after the conquest, 9th
Hijri again.
The theme however remains the same.
The treaty that Rasulullah ﷺ had, treaties rather,
with the tribes within the Arabian Peninsula, this
is an announcement of how those treaties are
going to be dissolved.
Those whose term period has expired and those
who have betrayed the terms of the treaties,
how are they to be treated?
Rasulullah ﷺ concludes the first leg of his
mission as the Rasul of Allah.
Rasulullah is sent to Arabs in particular, but
then all of humanity in general.
So the first greatest time period for the
entirety of his prophethood actually, even though the
call is universal, the call is global, the
action or where the call gets taken to
is specific, it's very local.
To the point that for the most part
it was Mecca in the first few years
of prophethood.
It was after Rasulullah was sure that Mecca
is not responding and this was pretty much
after a decade that he started looking elsewhere.
Even when he was looking elsewhere, eyes were
still on Mecca.
There was a legitimate reason, multiple reasons actually,
we've spoken about them, as to why Mecca
was still the center of attention.
Now after the conquest of Mecca, the focus
shifts to the rest actually after the Treaty
of Hudaybiyah.
As far as the Qur'an is concerned,
Treaty of Hudaybiyah is victory.
That was prophetic in the sense that for
all practical purposes, even those involved in the
treaty other than Rasulullah ﷺ thought that the
treaty was a defeat.
But as Rasulullah saw it, as Allah confirmed,
this is victory.
And we see retrospectively how it fanned out
as a victory despite looking like an apparent
compromise.
So after the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, Rasulullah ﷺ's
attention turns towards the rest of the Arabian
Peninsula.
With the revelation of these ayats, the conquest
of Mecca is about to
happen, the rest of Mecca opens up.
It's only a matter of time.
It's only a matter of time, a little
hiccup there, a hair there, other than that
pretty much a walk in the park.
And so Rasulullah ﷺ concludes the specific part
of his responsibility as the Rasul of Allah,
as the messenger of Allah, that is to
get the message across Arabia and to be
accepted as an authority by pretty much everyone
in the Arabian Peninsula.
Those who refuse to acknowledge him as the
Rasul of Allah, they are asked to kindly
leave.
The offer is accept.
If you're not going to accept, then leave.
If you insist on staying and not accepting,
that is a declaration of war.
And that is going to be treated as
such, you are going to be fought.
If, however, you want to stay and take
more time to consider listening to the ayats
of Allah, that consideration is justified.
You will be given that time, you will
be given that opportunity, you will be taught
the ayats of Allah, you will be given
a chance to hear the ayats of Allah
and then you can go think about them
in a safe place, sanctuary.
That's the responsibility of the Muslims.
Once you get that, you decide.
So as we said, when a Rasul is
sent to a nation, in this case the
Rasul is being sent to the Arabs, the
nation has to respond after listening to the
ayat or looking at the ayat clearly.
If they reject, the azaab of Allah descends
upon them.
For the Quraish, all the time that they
got the ayats in the form of the
Qur'an repeatedly presented in front of them.
When the case concluded for them as we
saw in An'am and A'raf, that
this is it.
This is the evidence against you.
The revelation of the ayat are indicating that
your time is up.
Your case has no standing.
Rasulullah ﷺ has done his job.
The azaab begins with Badr.
Begins with Badr, ends with the conquest.
For the rest of the tribes in Mecca,
the victory of Rasulullah ﷺ is the defining
or the challenge.
The ayat that is staring them in the
face that this testifies to this proof.
So the time that the Quraish got, the
rest of the tribes, obviously they're not altogether
ignorant of what has gone on in the
past decade, decade and a half.
They have an idea of how an unlettered
person who is pretty much as far as
political leadership is concerned a nobody in Mecca,
he gets up and Mecca is under his
command.
Pretty much in a course of 23 years.
20 years actually.
And that's flabbergasting.
That's the sign for them.
The definitive ayah.
And you look at this, you consider is
it possible if it wasn't for his prophethood.
Still if you need more time, ayat of
Allah are to be presented in front of
you.
Right, so that settles the case for them.
The entire aspect of the azaab of Allah
or the entire idea behind the azaab is
that it is only mandated when the ayat
have been definitively heard and rejected.
That's when the azaab is, it is okay
for them to be punished.
Allah makes it very clear throughout these passages
that we've heard, that we've read that that
is a sunnah of Allah when it comes
to punishing people.
And so with them getting these warnings, this
is the announcement of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala's azaab upon them.
Now, we spoke about how every single azaab
that the previous nations got, there was no
time period.
There were no exceptions.
There was no, okay, if you do this,
then you're going to get a chance.
If you have time until this contract ends,
no.
It was you reject the prophet, the case
against you is settled.
End of story.
The prophet leaves the town.
The town is hurled upside down.
No, no more opportunities.
With Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam, two things are
different.
One, the azaab is affected at the hands
of a believing community, Rasulullah and the sahaba
radhi allahu ta'ala alam.
And two, repeated opportunities of sahaba.
The conquest of Mecca being the greatest example
of it.
The ones who were responsible for torturing Rasulullah
and sahaba and murdering a lot of the
companions of the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam even
prior to the beginning of the war when
they were in Mecca.
They're forgiven.
They are let loose.
They are allowed Islam and then they attain
equal citizenship.
They're brothers.
That's the second striking dissimilarity from the previous
prophets.
And we see again and again with every
tribe other than the Quraysh that is also
being mentioned, opportunities for tawbah.
Opportunities for considering the message, responding and getting
the freedom.
That the citizenship of, of course we're not
talking about a country country like we know
countries or nations this day and age, but
as close of a conception as we can
get.
You're equal citizens under the command of Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wasalam.
So these two differences, he is repeatedly opening
doors for tawbah.
So the answer to why the second dissimilarity
comes in is hinted at in the last
two ayat of surat al-tawbah.
The surah that begins with the announcement of
dissociation from Allah and his messenger.
The ayat that it concludes and that hopefully
we get to see if not today then
tomorrow in our sessions inshallah.
So moving right along after the conquest of
Mecca Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam and sahaba.
Now they're reinforced with other people having joined
their ranks.
And at Hunayn they're going to meet people
from Ta'if.
The people from Ta'if are not giving
in that easy.
If you recall 10th year of prophethood they
gave Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam the worst of
treatments.
And even still they are not willing to
accept his prophethood or his political superiority.
And so they're coming out to war against
them.
Allah has helped you in many battlefields.
And the day of Hunayn when your great
numbers pleased you and you were very proud
of yourselves for how many you were.
Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam when he came to
Mecca 10,000 people were with him.
2,000 joined their ranks after the conquest.
Like 12,000 people have never had this
many before.
When the ambush happened for those of you
who recall the story.
In the battle of Hunayn the army was
ambushed by archers.
They did not expect it and archers were
hiding in a particular place.
And before they know it there's like a
flood of arrows.
The entire army 12,000 strong there's chaos,
there's frenzy, they're running away.
To the point that there was a time
that Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam hardly had a
couple of hundred people around him.
Most people had dissipated.
That was the nature of the ambush.
That's how strong it was and that's how
much of a blow it was to the
army.
So Allah comments on that, He's like you
were very proud that your numbers were going
to get you through.
That now the odds are in your favor.
But that didn't benefit you one bit.
And the earth confined itself on you.
You didn't have any space.
Despite its vastness, all the space you can
possibly imagine yet for you it was confined.
And you turned your back running away.
And then Allah sent down His tranquility on
His Messenger and the believers.
Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam rallied everybody together.
He started chanting a slogan.
And the slogan is of particular interest in
which Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam speaks to his
position in Quraysh and with respect to, with
relation to Abdul Muttalib.
So of course just at that time he
is proclaiming his prophethood.
But along with that the association that gives
him a tribal position as well is invoked.
And in doing so the army is rallied
around him.
The presence of mind to be able to
do that which follows from the Sakina that
descends upon them from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala at that state.
And he sent down forces which you did
not see.
So as we are looking here and we
saw in Badr and Uhud as well.
The forces, the angelic help, that is waiting
for certain prerequisites to be met.
And those prerequisites pretty much always have to
do with the human beings doing their utmost.
Doing their level best.
And once you have hit the limit of
human possibility in what is your level best.
Then the doors to angelic help open up.
That's when miracles happen.
That's when the inexplicable help comes.
Not sitting on your backsides waiting for the
angels to come.
Because if that was to work it would
have worked for pretty much the past few
decades and centuries that we have been sitting
on our backsides.
Not doing anything.
When he punished the disbelievers.
Again this azaab, this word is going to
be used frequently.
And that is the reward of the disbelievers.
That is what they have earned for themselves.
ثُمَّ يَتُوبُوا اللَّهُ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ أَلَىٰ مَن
يَشَاءُ Then even after that Allah will accept
the repentance.
Allah will turn towards those who he wants
or those who want to turn towards him
or want him to turn towards them.
وَاللَّهُ غَفُورُ الرَّحِيمِ And Allah is extremely forgiving,
Allah is merciful.
Even after the battle of Hunayn, when those
tribes of Taqif, they are being taken prisoners
of war, they are being given opportunities.
Accept and attain your release.
They are being given opportunities for tawbah.
Then later, the whole package for them.
But then if somebody still insists, they are
welcome to leave Arabian Peninsula.
وَاللَّهُ غَفُورُ الرَّحِيمِ Then if not, if they
don't want to stay and we are not
going to accept, that means that is again
a declaration of war against Rasulullah ﷺ.
وَاللَّهُ غَفُورُ الرَّحِيمِ You who have believed, إِنَّمَا
الْمُشْرِكُونَ النَّجَسُ The mushrikeen are impure, they are
najas.
فَلَا يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْيَدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ آمِهِمْ هَذَا So
do not let them come near the holy
mosque after this year.
وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ عِلَى But if you fear poverty.
So as far as Mecca was concerned, Mecca's
economy was dependent on pilgrimage.
There was the caravans, source number one, or
one of the primary sources of revenue.
The caravans, the إِلَى فِي قُرَيشِ إِلَى أَتِّهِمْ
رَحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالسَّيْفِ The winter caravan and the
summer caravan, and then the pilgrimage.
So all tribes of Arabia are going to
come to Mecca.
Why are they going to come to Mecca
when Mecca has the Ka'bah?
Why do they come to the Ka'bah?
Ka'bah is the house of Allah.
But they're all polytheists.
So it has the house of Allah plus
an idol for each tribe.
Each tribe gets to place their own idols
within the Ka'bah.
So when they come for pilgrimage, it has
something for them.
Now, and this is after the conquest has,
it's been over a year since the conquest.
For the first year, this prohibition was not
in place.
They were still allowed to visit.
It is with the announcement of these ayats
that this is not going to take place
anymore.
The idols were allowed to persist for some
time.
The mushrikeen from the rest of the Arabian
tribes were allowed for some time.
But then systematically, progressively, step by step, those
idols are removed.
And the mushrikeen are no longer allowed for
pilgrimage.
They're no longer allowed presence even.
That now your shirk has no standing.
Now after all of what Rasulullah ﷺ has
done, this is najasa, this is impurity.
And from it, all of what is deviant
and unjust can at any time resurface.
So all of what Rasulullah and Sahaba have
done to purify Arabia, to allow shirk to
persist in the peninsula is just waiting for
all of that to be undone.
The people and their commitment to polytheistic ways
and how that polytheism went hand in hand
with the injustice and inequality that was the
hallmark of the Arabian people, it's all going
to be undone.
And so with the order of Rasulullah ﷺ,
the justice that he brings, the tawhid that
he brings, to leave doors open for that
shirk to prevail again, that's not an option.
Given that the people of the peninsula are
so committed to those deities, that to give
that leeway even when they have become Muslim,
even if they have become Muslim, for them
to just go back to their old ways
is so easy.
They were habituated to shirk for the entirety
of their lives.
And that those impure habits, for them to
be allowed, it was only a matter of
time where all of what Rasulullah ﷺ stood
for and did and earned after their sacrifices
and struggles was going to be undone.
So no more.
Do not let them come near the holy
mosque after this.
وَإِنْ خَفْتُمْ عَيْلَةً If you fear poverty, فَسَوْفَ
يُغْنِيكُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ In shaa'a.
Soon Allah will make you rich out of
His grace if He so wills.
And as we see that from sources that
were never imagined, the people of Arabia have
been blessed repeatedly.
And Allah is Alim and Hakeem, most definitely
Allah is Knowing, Wise.
There's two sources that we identified for the
Quraish, that's where their revenue is coming from.
Their caravans, winter and summer, and pilgrimage.
You take the idols away, who's going to
come for the pilgrimage?
That's the first fear.
You take the idols away, the idols are
the Quraish's ticket to ensure nobody attacks their
caravans.
The Quraish have protection from all the tribes
in Arabia, and the protection is the contract,
how does it read?
Implicit or explicit, the contract is you touch
the caravan of the Quraish, your idol sitting
in the Kaaba is not safe anymore.
So in a sense those idols are held
hostage, and the tribes have to respect the
Quraish caravans not because they love the Quraish,
it's because they love their gods, and their
gods are in the Kaaba.
So we touch Quraish, our god gets an
arm broken off, or just gets thrown out
altogether.
And so they have this, there was a
very deeply rooted economic interest in the polytheism
that was prevalent within the vicinity of the
Kaaba.
And so Rasulullah ﷺ is being informed, and
the Sahaba are being told, and the new
Muslims who are not as strong in their
tawakkul for obvious reasons, they're being told don't
worry about it.
You get rid of these idols, bring in
tawheed, and you're worried about how you're going
to survive because that was your, as far
as you could tell that's how you were
living off of or had so many privileges
and economic tranquility that you had, stability that
you had.
It's still going to come.
قَاتِلُ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْأَرْضِ
Fight against those who do not believe in
Allah in the last day.
وَلَا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ And they
do not consider forbidden what Allah and His
Messenger have declared to be unlawful.
وَلَا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ And their deen, the
way their conduct is, is not the conduct
of truth.
It is not the conduct of justice.
What they have taken on as their way
of life, truth has no bearing on it.
وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابُ From the people given
the book حَتَّى يُؤْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَيَّدُونَ وَهُمْ صَغْرُونَ
Until they pay jizya willingly and they're humbled.
They come submitting.
So as far as the Arabian Peninsula is
concerned, Mushrikeen not allowed.
The doors that opens up to nothing going.
The people of the book, yes.
There is a door open for them to
remain provided the tax is paid and they
understand the authority of Rasulullah ﷺ and subsequently
the Sahaba.
That the morality that extends from them being
people of scripture, the values that they have
adhered to, as degenerate as they may be,
it is still something that can be tolerated.
You can work with that.
You can work with that for the people
of shirk, anything is possible.
Those morals, those values, there is no commitment
to scripture.
You can just, they can reopen doors that
have been very forcefully closed on them.
And so shirk is not going to be
tolerated, yes.
Judaism and Christianity, there is a place for
them provided they pay the tax and they
accept the authority of the Muslims within the
Arabian Peninsula.
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهْدُودُ عُزَيْرٌ ابْنُ اللَّهِ These Jewish people
say, Uzair is the son of Allah.
وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَةَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ اللَّهِ And the Christian
people say that the Messiah is the son
of Allah.
ذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُمْ بِأَفْقَارِهِمْ This is just something that
they say from their mouth.
These are words of their mouth.
The words that have no value other than
being words.
And since human words are the words that
emanate from the mouths of human beings, they
have an impact as to how the world
ends up being shaped.
And if your words are without a foundation,
are without any acknowledgement of truth, or what
qualifies as truth, then that's incredibly dangerous.
You've given yourself a right with which you
can just do pretty much whatever you want
to.
And that's dangerous.
That level of authority is dangerous.
A very small faction of the Jews, but
nevertheless significant, had this belief about Uzair a
.s. And then of course we know about
the Christians.
يُضَاهِعُونَ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَعُوا مِنْ قَبْلِ They're just
imitating, reiterating the words of those who disbelieved
before them.
As far as the Christians are concerned, they
were inspired by Egyptian concepts.
Something of the Trinity was inspired from there.
قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَعُوا مِنْ قَبْلِ Allah destroyed them.
اَنَّا يُؤْفَكُونَ How are they deluded?
They are people of scripture, yet these fundamental
creed that they have come up with that
has become the defining feature of who they
are is outside of scripture.
Has nothing to do, is in contradiction to
scripture.
اَنَّا يُؤْفَكُونَ How are they deluded?
اِتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
وَالْمَسِيحَ بْنَ مَرْيَمٍ They took their priests and
monks as أرباب as they became their رَبّ
رَبز and Messiah, son of Maryam as well.
Because literally when you give somebody that authority
when قَوْلُهُمْ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ when the words of their
mouth which have no other verification in علم,
in حق, in scripture it doesn't have any
of that.
Yet their words have been given just because
it's their words.
They've been given that level of credence, that
level of sanctity.
They have now...
On whose authority is that being accepted?
It is being accepted on the authority of
those priests and those monks.
Now those priests and those monks have an
authority that cannot be challenged that cannot be
checked, that cannot be verified on anything external.
It is unconditional.
Because that claim in itself is...
There is no outside authority to check that
or verify that.
It's just them.
Now who stands for that trinity or that
claim of God having a son is that
religious figure, is that religious leader.
And when it's on the authority of that
religious leader or that religious leader is the
authority that protects that creed either way you've
given them an authority with which they can
then do whatever they want to.
They have taken for themselves divine rights.
And when you give human beings that level
of divine authority without sanction, without scripture verifying,
authenticating without any legitimate source of knowledge acknowledging
the truth of their claims you've opened doors
for them that are incredibly dangerous through which
whenever those doors have been opened up death
has crept out one way or the other
and taken over.
So one of the principal functions of Rasulullah
ﷺ was to take away this level of
religious authority that people are not accountable before
anyone anymore.
They can just do whatever they want to.
They can't be checked by anything external.
It's just them for their word and that's
it.
They can do without words so much.
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِلَةٌ All of
them were commanded to enter into the ibadah
of one ilah.
لا إله إلا هو.
There is no ilah other than Him.
سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ He is exalted above all
of the shirk that they do.
يُرِيدُونَ يُطْفِعُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ They want to
blow out the light of Allah.
The nur of Allah with their mouths.
It's nothing other than expiration of their own
mouths.
And what are they trying to do with
it?
This nur of tawheed, how tawheed relates everything,
puts everything in its proper place.
This continuous whole that tawheed is and represents
reality as.
It's broken up and how tawheed finds its
verification in all aspects of reality.
And to try to displace that, to try
to contradict that with something which has no
evidence from external reality, rather is entirely self
-referential, entirely originating like your expiration when you
breathe, when you blow out from the person's
own self.
They want to put out the light of
Allah with blowing out candles.
يُرِيدُونَ يُطْفِعُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَيَأْبَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا
عَنْ يُطِمَّ نُورًا But Allah refuses except to
perfect His light.
وَقْتِ فُرْسَطْ هَيْ كَهَا؟
قام ابھی باقی ہے نور توحید کا اطمام
ابھی باقی ہے.
Allah wants to perfect His light.
i.e. the light, for that light to
be perfected, for that light to spread, there
is work to be done.
It was that work that Rasulullah ﷺ initiated
that he reached that the light spread across
Arabia within a span of 23 years and
then it has to spread further.
But to spread that light further that Allah
wants it to spread, humans have to come
in the Nusrah, in the help of Allah
and His Messenger.
وَلَوْ كَرِهَا الْكَافِرُونَ Even if these disbelievers detest
it, so be it.
وَالَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ He is the one
who sent His Messenger with the guidance.
وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ And the religion of truth.
لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ So that He makes
that religion of truth dominate.
وَلَوْ كَرِهَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ Despite the displeasure of those
who do shirk.
The shirk that they did in idolatry, that
is not based in truth.
That has no evidence.
Nothing that qualifies as ilm can justify those
claims.
It is what is coming out of their
mouths.
بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ The blows of the...
I don't know how good single English word
for poking.
But you get what I mean.
That's all of what it is.
The characteristic feature of Islam or what Rasulullah
brings.
That it is the دين الحق.
It is the religion of truth.
That for truth, for that which has evidence.
For that which is coming from an authentic
source of knowledge.
For that which can be verified.
Tested.
As being...
As having a place from a veritable source.
As having a credence.
As not being something which is a person
or a group's self-referential claim.
That's not gonna work in one.
It is going to be the religion of
truth.
Truth is going to be the way of
life.
Truth is going to guide humanity.
Truth is going to be the standard along
which humanity is now ruled.
That's what Rasulullah ﷺ brings.
It's not a joke.
It is a displacement of all individual claims.
Monarchic claims.
To rule the lives of people.
Whether politically or religiously.
It is not without consequence.
It is not without reason that Rasulullah ﷺ
did not have any male child.
It is not without reason that even the
wives of Rasulullah ﷺ were not allowed to
marry after Rasulullah ﷺ passes away.
One of many reasons, of course.
Lest any of them has male children.
Because then what follows from that, the nepotism
that follows, that goes against the Deen-ul
-Haq.
That there is religious authority, that there is
political authority, simply on the matter of lineage.
No.
That is no longer allowed.
Humanity has matured so as to not need
anything like that, so as to not have
to suffer the injustices that emanate from any
system like that.
And the priority being given to truth.
But what is this religion?
This is the religion of truth.
It is based in truth.
It emanates from truth.
And it has the ability to relate within
itself aspects of truth that come after its
own original revelation.
That is incredible capacity that Islam has that
allows for it to be a universal religion.
That allows for it to be relevant after
the authority of Rasulullah ﷺ, the prophetic authority
of Rasulullah ﷺ, passes away.
It allows for that religion to be relevant.
It doesn't have to be arbitrary anymore.
Truth has now found an essential place in
the lives of human beings.
In how human beings are managed, governed.
And all of this was possible.
How?
Al-Huda.
The guidance that Allah reveals.
The guidance that is in the form of
the Qur'an.
The guidance that is in the form of
Rasulullah ﷺ explaining the Qur'an.
With his words, his practices, his seerah, his
entire life, that his life bears witness to.
Guidance in what the Qur'an authenticates as
other avenues of guidance.
Other avenues of truth.
The authentication that comes from Rasulullah ﷺ Kalamullah.
And then of course the guidance that emanates
from Ihdinas Siratul Mustaqeem.
That a continuous dua of the community of
believers with Rasulullah ﷺ and after Rasulullah ﷺ
is Ihdinas Siratul Mustaqeem.
Ya Allah continue to guide us.
Guidance is this continuous relationship between human beings
and Allah ﷻ.
So what is that guidance towards?
Ultimately it is a guidance towards truth.
So a recognition that the truth is not
this monolithic block entity that you have in
its entirety at one point in time.
No.
It is a continuously evolving reality that
you relate with.
The idea that Ihdinas Siratul Mustaqeem is to
be a continuous dua that that community makes.
That they're continuously humbling themselves towards understanding better
and better that at no point in time
do they have that belligerent certainty of absolute
knowledge.
Because guess what?
There is no tree of knowledge that you
can just hug and claim absolute superiority.
وَالَّذِي يَرْصَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَذِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَىٰ
الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ So that that may supplant.
So that it may dominate all other ways
of life.
Ways that are not based in truth.
Ways that are based in truth it is
able to relate with.
Bring in within itself.
Honor, value.
And that was the beauty of Islam that
wherever it went after Rasulullah ﷺ, after the
Khulafa-e-Rashidun wherever it went it was
able to relate with what was beautiful.
With what was harmonious.
In whatever culture it went to.
And it is that diversity that we are
proud of.
That we are proud of over the past
14 centuries.
That the diversity in scholarship the diversity in
cultures that were there prior to Islam that
were that prevailed with Islam and were made
more beautiful after Islam.
How that beauty was retained.
It is one of the miracles of history.
That so many languages became languages of Islam.
Language being one aspect of culture.
There are so many other aspects of culture.
That there are Islamic texts Ideas Ilm Treasure
troves of wisdom which are not in Arabic.
If Arabic was the original Islamic language they're
in Persian.
They're in Urdu.
They're in Punjabi.
And how the beauty of Islam as it
is reflected in these alien cultures is unique.
And Islam had the capacity the Quran had
the capacity the Tawheed of Rasulullah SAW had
that capacity to embrace this beauty.
To further enamor this beauty.
To bring that potential out further.
And how our belligerence just looks to undo
all of that.
How our empty slogans of ascribing absolute superiority
to just one it robs humanity of
so many aspects of truth as to how
they express themselves in different ways.
Absolute superiority of Arabic.
It seems like a religious responsibility to establish
that at the cost of others.
How does that make sense?
How does that make sense?
There is no question as to the importance
and significance and the uniqueness of the Arabic
language.
But then there is all there is so
much else so many other languages that Allah
takes pride over.
They're reflected as the ayats of Allah.
They're represented as the ayats of Allah.
And that's again just one example.
One aspect of culture.
So many others.
So many others.
The spread of Islam was not the spread
of a cult.
That you see it's spreading and then there's
this Arabicization of the whole world.
Then now you have replicas that there's Arabs
all over the world.
They all look the same.
They all talk the same.
They all dress the same.
They all talk the same.
No.
Islam didn't do that.
We have no evidence that Islam did that.
We have evidence to the contrary.
We have evidence to the contrary.
Unfortunately now in that religious zeal and naivety
it is looked at as the corruption of
Islam.
That what was in Arabia was pure Islam
and as we spread out we got corrupted
by all these foreign cultures.
That's not how those who were actually the
representatives of pure Islam did not see it
as that.
Their purity was in being able to relate
with the purity of the cultures that they
met and honoring and retaining that purity.
Allowing it to persist.
Allowing it to fruitfully come in contact with
that which they were bringing so that they
could produce something which was beautiful and fruitful.
And that all of humanity is cherishing its
fruits to this day.
There are so many wonderful truths that were
then born out of these interactions and relationships
that weren't there before.
And these the birth of these truths that
creative capacity that it is very it is
a tragic comedy that when you see these
ayats being used to talk about, to propagate
a conception of Khilafah a conception of Islamic
rule which does not take into consideration at
all cultural and civilizational developments over the past
couple of centuries that when it looks to
resort to political authority or when it looks
to give or wrest political authority away from
wherever it is today and focus it in
the hands of one person or one group
then which person or which group will have
little to no consideration for what has gone
around over the past couple of centuries in
the political world and how so much of
that the way for that was paved by
these principles that are being spoken of that
how the culmination of prophethood with Rasool Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam ensures that the focus of
religious authority and or political authority in one
person those doors are being closed those doors
are being closed we don't have popes in
Islam we don't have a single individual who
is an absolute authority we don't have that
that's not that goes against so much of
what Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam closed the
doors to so if you want to reopen
those doors in the name of Islam, in
the name of Khilafah using these ayat and
rohban and ahbar that the Quran is criticizing
you want to place them in positions of
political authority it is very understandable if the
bloodshed and sacrifice over the past couple of
centuries that has gone into developing or ridding
the world of that kind of exploitative authority
it is pretty understandable if they don't take
our claims seriously or if they feel very
very threatened by it for what it looks
to bring about Ya ayyuhal lazeena aamanu you
who have believed in a kathiram minal ahbari
wal rohban definitely most priests and monks layakuluna
amwalan nasi bil batil without a doubt they
wrongly devour the properties of the people wayasudduna
ansabilillah and thus stop them from the way
of Allah that the religious authority figures that
they become when it is not the religion
of truth but it is a religion that
emanates from their authority as individuals then the
doors that this opens up to for economic
exploitation of humanity and when religious people religious
authority figures in the name of God, in
the name of scripture, in the name of
religion they are clearly seen to exploit people
thus yasudduna ansabilillah they are the ones who
are stopping people from the way of Allah
people will say if this is your God
if this is what God gives you if
this is what comes from your belief in
God thank you very much I don't need
God I am better off without Him humanity
is better off without Him if that's the
best that your God can do if this
is what goes around in His name because
that's what the claim is that the scholars
of religion will represent will claim a hegemony
on religious truth and with that hegemony that
this is who God is or who we
say He is according to what we have
identified as the only true sources and then
what emanates from them in the form of
behavior and exploitation is it a wonder that
people find that God unacceptable that religion unacceptable
that they find that atheism is a more
just alternative is it a wonder Rasulullah ﷺ
why is there so much strictness against the
mushrikeen why is there so much strictness against
this religion of priests and monks in which
priests and monks are given so much reverence
and so much authority it's dangerous it opens
the doors that Rasulullah ﷺ struggled his entire
life to close if he has replaced displaced
dhulm political injustice that is taking place in
the name of polytheistic religion he's not going
to replace that with dhulm again political injustice
in the name of religious monotheism that's worse
and those who hoard up gold and silver
and they do not spend it in the
way of Allah what is the characteristic feature
of Rasulullah ﷺ and the sahabah if it
is described in two words it is iman
in Allah and it is spending in the
way of Allah infaq you can be dead
sure that the group prepared by Rasulullah ﷺ
a it's not a cult you see that
by the diversity that it represents diversity even
in how the khulafa became khulafa right after
Rasulullah ﷺ there was no one way and
b in how you can be sure from
the lives that they've led they're not in
it for the money that they have pretty
much spent out majority of what they had
even all of what they had for the
sake of Allah for the sake of humanity
it distinguishes them and if you if your
way of choosing people in power does not
see that does not allow that these kinds
of people rise to the to the top
then you can have you can have monarchic
injustice in the name of democracy you can
have polytheistic effects in the name of monotheism
no difference so the characteristic feature of they're
spending in the way of Allah those who
hoard on the other hand interestingly enough the
world as it is set out to be
as democratic as it may be it is
it is still the people who are the
hoarders of gold and silver that end up
in positions of power and so is it
a wonder that they act like kings وَلَا
يُنفِقُونَهَا فِى سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ so
give them the glad tidings of a painful
punishment يَوْمَ يُحْمَى عَلَيْهَا فِى نَارِ جَهَنَّمٍ the
day when it will be heated in the
fire of * فَتُقْبَى بِهَا حِبَاهُهُمْ وَجُنُوبُهُمْ وَظُهُرُهُمْ
and their foreheads, sides and backs will be
branded with it هَذَا مَا كَنَسْتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ and
it will be said that this is what
you used to hoard for yourselves فَذُوقُوا مَا
كُنْتُمْ تَكْنِزُونَ so taste that which you have
been hoarding إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللَّهِ إِثْنَى
عَشْرَ شَهْرًا and for sure the number of
months with Allah are twelve فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ
يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ in the Book of
Allah from the day heavens and the earth
were created مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرْمٌ of them four
are sacred i.e. no fighting, no killing
in those four sacred months ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ
that is the established law فَلَا تَذْلِمُوا فِيهِنَّ
أَنفُسَكُمْ so do not oppress yourselves regarding them
again, Quraish on the basis of their religious
authority had political authority what does that mean?
in the Arabian Peninsula they would issue ordinances
they would issue judgments just arbitrarily on their
own and when it's arbitrary when they have
the right to do it when it's their
authority from which their sole authority from which
that is emanating it usually revolved around what
was to the convenience of the Quraish which
month did they want for those to be
sacred so these are the four months in
the year in which no fighting, no killing,
no battles nothing is going to take place
Arabia is bound by this law all tribes
one way or the other accept it who
decides which month?
Quraish decide which month now the doors that
this the keys that this gives the people
of Quraish the leaders of Quraish and how
now they can use this to their political
advantage and exploit the other tribes at will
when it's to their political strategic advantage they
would make Muharram the month that it is
that is sacred and no fighting takes place
if it suits them it's going to be
Ramadan if it suits them it's going to
be whatever whatever suits them it's their authority
that it's coming from so Allah says no
more no this is not happening anymore فَلَا
تَضْلِمُوا فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَقَاتِلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ كَافًا so do
not oppress yourselves regarding them those months are
now fixed and additionally fight these pagans this
is a pagan practice allowing this sort of
a hegemony كَمَا يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ كَافًا so fight them
collectively the way they fight you collectively وَأَلَمُوا
أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ and know that Allah
is with the people of Taqwa إِنَّمَا النَّسِئُ
الزِّيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ postponing a sacred month is
to advance in disbelief it has been set,
stop playing with it يُغَلُّوا بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَافَرُوا
whereby those who don't believe are misled يُحِلُّونَهُ
آمَنٌ وَيُحَرِّمُونَهَا وَآمَن they violate the sanctity of
the month one year they make it halal
one year they make it haram the next
year لِيُوَطِعُوا إِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهِ to correspond
to the number made forbidden by Allah the
total would always end up being four in
that they were very rigid, very religious, very
righteous as to how the total would always
be four but what is which month, that's
up to them فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهِ but
they legitimize what Allah has declared haram زُيِّنَ
لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ and the evil of their
deeds is made alluring for them how is
the evil of their deed made alluring to
them particularly from this example you take up
a portion follow it rigidly, religiously feel very
righteous about yourself and that which you have
very conveniently messed up around or messed around
with that's put to the side your religious
righteous commitment to the one part that you
did get right that's exaggerated in your eyes
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ مَا شَيْءَ اللَّهِ تَبَارَكَ اللَّهِ and
the criminal activity that went on on the
side that's forgotten زُيِّنَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ the
evil of their deeds is made alluring for
them وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِلُ قَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ Allah does
not guide the disbelieving people so with these
five rukoos the culmination of Rasulullah ﷺ's Arabian
responsibility that's that's concluded with the sixth we
see the global responsibility of Rasulullah ﷺ that
being mentioned exemplified with the battle of or
the expedition of Tabuk so we know that
Rasulullah ﷺ sent letters to the leaders of
different countries or kingdoms or monarchies after the
Treaty of Hudaybiyyah there's the King of Abyssinia
there's the Persian Empire there's the Roman Empire
all of them are getting letters by Rasulullah
ﷺ in which Rasulullah is inviting them introducing
himself obviously they've already heard about him as
royalty as they are or as ginormous as
their own empires are something of what has
gone on in Arabia will have caught their
ears or they would have at least after
getting the letter found out that something is
going on something very mysterious is happening within
Arabia something very unheard of has happened so
in any case whatever happened happened the letters
are sent most of them respond with respect
at least even if there's no acceptance there
is a couple of instances in which there
is a the response is incredibly intolerable it
is intolerant and intolerable that the messenger of
Rasulullah ﷺ is martyred the messenger who took
the letter from Rasulullah ﷺ the letter is
torn to shreds and this act of killing
the messenger is an announcement of war it's
pretty much saying that we're not going to
respect you we're not going to respect your
political authority we got nothing to do with
you and so to not respond to this
is pretty much accepting the dictatorship of that
particular king and that particular king happening to
be an ally of the Roman Empire it
was a Syrian sub-state that this particular
incident took place that's a big deal now
you're calling the Roman Empire out to war
Rasulullah ﷺ is not going to back down
so he sent an army of 3,000
people headed by none other than Zaid bin
Haritha this is around 8th of Hijri Zaid
bin Haritha as we know was up until
the revelation of Surah Ahzab the adopted son
of Rasulullah ﷺ the one man if you
were to pick out who's Rasulullah's favorite in
all of Arabia it was Zaid he gives
him the leadership of that army and he
knows that this is a big deal for
what is coming from the other side is
not 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 it's
100,000 it's a Roman Empire that you're
challenging here and so it has already been
decided that of course exactly how many are
going to come out from the other side
is not clear how big of a response
are they going to mount it's not clear
is the sub-state going to be supported
by the bigger Roman Empire all of that
but nevertheless some response has to be mounted
your person has been killed Zaid goes he's
being the army is being told if Zaid
is martyred then Ja'far again a cousin
of Rasulullah ﷺ if he is martyred Abdullah
bin Rawaha if he is martyred then Khalid
bin Walid Rasulullah ﷺ did not nominate Khalid
bin Walid but Khalid bin Walid ended up
taking up the reins of leadership when the
first three nominees were martyred one after another
Khalid bin Walid strategically retreats from that particular
battle that's the battle of Mu'tah now Medina
was in a state of utter it was
grief and bereavement everywhere for the people that
have fallen were for one there was a
lot of Muslims who were martyred and then
these three were the best of them were
the best of Medina and the closest to
Rasulullah ﷺ a response is necessary the response
comes after the conquest of Mecca and this
time Rasulullah himself leads the expedition to Tabuk
so Tabuk is a response to what has
happened in Mu'tah which was a response to
the killing of the messenger which was the
initiation of the global responsibility of Rasulullah ﷺ
that he is a messenger to the entire
world for all times to come so in
his lifetime at least that had to be
initiated and so he is going to go
to Tabuk Tabuk is the last city of
Hijaz it is on the border with the
Roman Empire that's where Rome starts with or
the Roman Empire starts from Tabuk Rasulullah ﷺ
makes it absolutely clear that that is where
they're headed he wouldn't usually do that military
strategy for Rasulullah ﷺ Rasulullah ﷺ necessitated that
he would keep his plans secret up until
the very necessary moments that when people had
to know to make sure that you know
there is no information is leaked out and
all the precautions but here everyone is told
and what is also different about Tabuk is
that Tabuk is a mandatory participation it is
no longer optional up until Tabuk there was
no mandatory Jihad it was optional to go
to whether it's Badr or Uhud or any
of the other battles there was no mandatory
fighting it was acceptable if somebody said they
didn't want to yes when they said they
wanted to and they came out and then
they backed off that's messed up that's not
to be tolerated nevertheless there was never a
mandatory it wasn't Fard it wasn't religiously obligatory
here it was after Rasulullah ﷺ of course
the conquest of Mecca has happened everything has
happened things are different and there's a huge
army that you're facing you're not going to
let it just slide so Rasulullah ﷺ mandates
for everyone to come and it is harvesting
season for Medina people that they're just waiting
this is the time for the crop this
is the time for their annual income and
they're the type who only earn money once
or twice every year because they're it's an
agrarian economy in Medina and so it's a
tough challenge that they have to give up
and leave and it is incredibly hot the
weather it's not the vacation weather that you
would want to be roaming around in the
desert in and so the challenge is incredible
it is mandatory to participate and it is
a long journey so Rasulullah ﷺ makes it
absolutely clear where they would go long story
short Rasulullah ﷺ leads 30,000 Heraclius knows
we know later from his interaction with Abu
Sufyan he had already done his reconnaissance if
you will and he's found out about him
and the best of his and he was
a knowledgeable person himself he had a fair
idea and the narrations tell us as much
that this is the prophet of God however
his own people his own scholars and advisors
in the court would not accept him and
that is another irony of being in a
leadership position that you're so fettered you're so
chained by that leadership position and those that
are immediately around you they wouldn't let him
budge they wouldn't let him respond the way
he felt it was necessary to respond given
that this seems to be true a true
call to prophethood however he has to retaliate
but even though his clout or his advisors
don't let him accept as he would have
wanted to he is still not stupid enough
to meet a messenger in battle somebody sent
by the messenger that was relatively acceptable so
Zayd leading the army was something they could
deal with but the messenger himself leading the
army was something that he's not going to
stand for or he's not going to risk
that so they did not come they did
not show up Rasulullah s.a.w. spent
that time in Tabuk made some pacts with
the neighboring tribes his political hold was solidified
and they returned having avenged Mouta that this
is our show of strength we didn't back
down we stood for what it was necessary
for us to stand for they're the ones
that didn't show up one all now this
is all the background for the ayaats that
are going to be revealed the main themes
that the ayaats pick up on is the
theme of hypocrisy those who after it has
been made mandatory refused to show up refused
to accompany Rasulullah s.a.w. now this
is a sign of clear hypocrisy so how
that is to be dealt with is what
is commented upon in the rest of the
surah ya ayyuhallatheena aamanu you who have believed
maalakum what is wrong with you idhaa qeela
lakumun firu fee sabeelillah that when you are
asked to go out in the way of
Allah idhaa qaltum ilal ard you cling heavily
to the earth araditum bil hayati dunya minal
akhira are you pleased just with the life
of this world rather than to the exclusion
of the hereafter fama matau alhayati dunya fil
akhirati illa qaleel and what is the enjoyment
of the life of this world when compared
to akhira except very little illa tanfiru yu
'addibukum azaban alima if you do not rush
forth Allah will inflict you with a painful
punishment one of the key ingredients or if
you want the starting point of hypocrisy is
an exclusive preference for dunya at the cost
of akhira this indulgence to the point of
forgetting akhira all together making this this binary
in which dunya is given an absolute preference
practically that is the starting point of hypocrisy
illa tanfiru yu'addibukum azaban alima if you
do not go out Allah will inflict you
with a painful punishment he will replace you
with another people don't think that you're now
the chosen people of the lord the way
the jewish people consider themselves to be the
chosen people of the lord Allah has favoured
you Allah has blessed you Allah has granted
you victory after victory and has appreciated your
efforts and struggles and sacrifices but do not
take this for granted wala tadhurruhu shai'a
you will not be able to harm him
one bit wallahu ala kulli shai'in qadeer
it is Allah he has power over everything
illa tansuruhu faqad nasarahu Allah if you do
not help the messenger Allah has already helped
him idh akhrajahu allatheena kafaru thani yathneen when
the disbelievers had driven him out as the
second of two again at the time of
Tabuk when Rasulullah s.a.w. is the
uncrowned king of Arabia he and the sahaba
and the newcomers are being reminded you know
how Allah is participating or how he has
been participating very personally very intimately from day
one is when you see how the person
leading the army just a little over a
decade ago he was hiding in a cave
with just one person with him he was
where a death warrant was out in his
name and now he's how does that work?
idh akhrajahu allatheena kafaru thani yathneen when the
disbelievers had driven him out as second of
the two idh huma filghar when the two
of them were in that cave idh yaqulu
li sahibihi and when he was saying to
his companion background Abu Bakr r.a is
asking Ya Rasulullah we're done for how do
we he was terrified he just has to
look down and he's gonna see us and
Rasulullah r.a responded what do you think
Ya Abu Bakr about two the third of
whom is Allah and that is the words
we find in the hadith and the words
we find in the Qur'an la tahzan
don't worry innallaha ma'ana for sure Allah
is with us and Abu Bakr r.a
was worried to death but then with that
consolation that comes from Rasulullah s.a.w
he he is reassured he is reassured and
so Allah sent down his tranquility upon him
وأيده بجنود لم تروها and helped him with
soldiers which you could not see and it
is of all the things that went around
from that cave to now to the point
that these ayat are being revealed it is
inexplicable it is inexplicable how Rasulullah s.a
.w has been able to achieve that and
so Allah explains it in the form of
armies you cannot see and by all estimations
that you can possibly put out there it
will not make sense until you bring Allah
into the picture until you bring armies of
Allah that you do not see cannot account
for cannot bring into your calculations until you
bring those or account for those you are
not going to be able to see how
it happened وَأَيَّدَهُ بِجُنُودٍ لَمْ تَرَوْهَا He helped
him Allah helped him with soldiers you could
not see وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا السُّفْلَةَ and
he made the word of those who disbelieved
the lowest وَكَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ هِيَ الْعُلِيَةَ and the
word of Allah that and only that is
the highest وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ and Allah is
mighty and wise إِنْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا So go
forth whether light or heavy and now there's
two ways that this ayah has been read
at least two ways خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا either you
have enough to go or you have very
little to go by and we know that
the journey was such and the number of
the army was such that they had to
share rides they didn't have a single horse
or a single camel or no it had
to be shared there's two, three people sharing
one even more than that they had to
take turns there was a shortage of food
so regardless they're being told whether you have
enough or you don't have enough get out
there get out there whatever is the bare
minimum that you can survive on just survive,
go forth or if you do have sufficient
still another way of reading it is that
whether you want to or not whether your
heart's into it or your heart's not into
it it doesn't matter you gotta go اِن
فِرُوْ خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا you're determined you're committed you're
zealous you're looking forward yeah okay great go
or if you're like oh my god what
if we die even still go what you're
feeling what you're thinking it may be in
support of what you have to choose to
do but it is not going to be
the determining factor of who you end up
becoming because that is a mark of a
believer that you trust what you believe in
rather than what you're feeling and thinking at
that time because the feeling and thinking can
be instinctive will predominantly be instinctive but it
becomes that instinctive thinking and feeling becomes demonic
when it is opposed to what your belief
is asking for you to trust in so
it is a reflection of tawakkul on Allah
when everything in your thoughts and your emotions
is telling you don't do it it's not
gonna work but it is an obligation nevertheless
اِن فِرُوْ خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا and struggle that
is what the struggle is especially when you
have to go خِفَافًا your heart's not into
it you don't feel all that committed you
don't feel that power of iman struggle to
do what you gotta do that's the first
level of jihad وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ
اللَّهِ with your wealth, with yourselves with your
lives in the way of Allah ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ
لَّكُمْ إِن كُنْتُمْ تَعْلُمُونَ that is better for
you if you really understand ذَوْ كَانَ عَرَضًا
قَرِيبًا وَسَفَرًا قَاصِدًا and have there been an
immediate gain and a short journey travel a
couple of days small caravan you win you
get all the war booty لَتَّبَعُوكُ they would
have followed you Ya Rasulullah they would have
all come they would have shown their zeal
for their commitment for the cause وَلَكِن بَعُدَتْ
عَلَيْهِمْ مِشْرُقًا but to them the journey was
too long وَسَيَحْلِفُونَ بِاللَّهِ and soon they will
swear by Allah لَوِ اِسْتَطَعْنَا لَخَرَجْنَا مَعَكُمْ if
we were able we would have definitely marched
out with you so now the hypocrisy of
the hypocrites manifesting itself in these oaths that
they are taking before Rasulullah ﷺ Wallahi if
we would have gone but it was this
problem or that problem يُهْلِكُونَ أَنفُسَهُمْ they are
destroying themselves وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ Allah knows
that they are definitely liars عَفَ اللَّهُ عَنكَ
لِمَا أَذِنتَ لَهُمْ may Allah forgive you Ya
Rasulullah why did you give them an exception?
why did you give them an exemption?
حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا until the truthful
had become evident to you who was actually
telling the truth وَتَعْلَمُ الْكَاذِبِينَ and you had
discovered the liars صِدْقُ and كِذْبُ in what
sense?
make a claim to لا إله إلا الله
is it true or is it false?
to be suspicious of that claim for yourselves
and to look to work and struggle in
order to prove that it is true لَا
يَسْتَأْذِنُكَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرُ those who
believe in Allah in the last day never
ask you to exempt them يُجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ
from fighting with their belongings and lives وَاللَّهُ
عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُتَّقِينَ and Allah knows the people of
Taqwa and that situation with Tabuk no one
is going to be looking no one who
is actually committed to Allah and his Rasul
is going to look for a way out
they're in it لَا يَسْتَأْذِنُكَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ
وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرُ those who are asking you to
exempt them are those who don't really believe
in Allah in the last day this is
where the distinctions are being made it is
being clarified this is where the the catalysis
is taking place, I think that's the word
this is where the people of Iman are
being separated from the people of hypocrisy the
people of Iman have been separated from the
people of Kufr prior to this, now there
is a further purging that is being taking
place which is within the ranks of the
Muslims وَارْتَابَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ their hearts are in a
consistent state of doubt فَهُمْ فِي الرَّيْبِهِمْ يَتَرَدَّدُونَ
and so because of this persistent doubt they
are indecisive وَلَوْ أَرَادُوا الْخُرُوجِ had they really
intended to march out لَا أَدُّوا لَهُ عُدَّةً
they would have prepared for it some sort
of a preparation they think they want to
go they are swearing they want to go
they are making tall claims about wanting to
go but what betrays their claims and their
promises or oaths that they are taking upon
their claims they believe it themselves what betrays
their hypocrisy what would always betray our hypocrisy
if we really are suspicious of ourselves is
how much preparation have you put in practically
what is it that has been done لَا
أَعَدُّوا لَهُ عُدَّةً they would have met the
prerequisite preparation they would have made them وَلَكِن
كَرِهَ اللَّهُمْ بِعَثَمٍ in fact Allah did not
want that they come with you Allah did
not want them to leave with you فَثَبَّتَهُمْ
so he helped them back Allah has misled
them وَقِيلَكُ عُدُوا مَعَ الْقَعِدِينَ and they were
told stay behind with those who stay behind
who are those who are staying behind women
are exempt from the fight obviously old people
are exempt cripples are exempt those who cannot
fight physically incapable of fighting they are exempt
so these people who think of themselves to
be the strong men they are going to
have to stay back with those that are
weak and the women that's who they are
being now clumped with despite their claims of
bravery and chivalry and what not لَوْ خَرَجُوا
فِيكُمْ had they marched out with you مَا
زَادُوكُمْ إِلَّا خَبَالَ they would not have added
anything to you but confusion these are dead
weight even if they do end up coming
out of compulsion all they are going to
do is make your job harder they are
in your ranks and there are the people
like when are we going to get there
why is it so hot here oh my
god and the likes يَبْغُونَكُمُ الْفِتْنَةُ وَلَأَوْضَعُوا خِلَالَكُمْ
they would have actively moved through your ranks
so they are like looking to instigate, lobby
against Rasulullah ﷺ because they are frustrated they
don't want to be there they want nothing
else than to be back there there is
no other way that they can do it
and so this is increasing them in resentment
against Rasulullah ﷺ for bringing them out and
this resentment is manifesting itself in all of
these deviant practices within the ranks of the
believers يَبْغُونَكُمُ الْفِتْنَةُ they are seeking to promote
rifts among you they are going around gossiping,
backbiting just putting pitching believers against believers however
it is that they can manifest that resentment
وَفِيكُمْ سَمَعُونَ لَهُمْ وَفِيكُمْ سَمَعُونَ لَهُمْ and there
are some among you who would have listened
to them so one reading of this is
that there are people who would have taken
these hypocrites seriously and fallen for that fitna
and problems would have arisen not all of
you are at the same level another reading
is that some of them are actually spies
that some of them are actually they are
going to have ties with the enemy and
they are going to look to bring you
down وَفِيكُمْ سَمَعُونَ لَهُمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالْغَالَمِينَ and
Allah knows, Allah fully knows those who are
unjust لَقَدِ ابْتَغَوُوا الْفِتْنَةَ مِنْ قَبْلٍ definitely it's
a lot of fitna before وَقَلَّبُوا لَكَ الْأُمُورُ
and it upset matters for you حَتَّى جَاءَ
الْحَقُ until the truth came وَظَهَرَ أَمْرُ اللَّهُ
and the decree of Allah became manifest it's
not that these hypocrites are just creeping up
they've been there throughout Medina they've tried to
create issues for Rasulullah ﷺ from day one
and Allah has withheld them from any disasters
that could have broken out وَهُمْ كَارِهُونَ much
to their disgust the decree of Allah became
manifest the أَمْرُ of Allah prevailed the purpose
of Allah prevailed, what Allah wanted that had
to be pulled off as miraculous as it
was it was pulled off وَهُمْ كَارِهُونَ much
to their disgust وَمِنْهُمَّ يَقُولُوا أَذَلِّي وَلَا تَفْتِنِّي
and then there is this one who says
Ya Rasulullah grant me an exemption and do
not put me in trial by exposing me
to temptation these Syrian women they're so pretty
they're so attractive and I am so weak
I don't my iman is in danger if
I go with you again so characteristic of
hypocrisy but what it is what is feared
in this case or what is put out
as a fear in this case is a
fear of losing iman what good is that
iman what good is that modesty what good
is that righteousness when it fails you when
it doesn't allow you to do what it
is that you have to do what are
you gonna do with it in your household
keeping it safe and secure and decorated is
that what it was for it is something
to be put into action it is something
to be put into action so you wanna
save your iman by all means without a
doubt he has already fallen in fitna this
in itself this logic that he has presented
he's already in fitna وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمُحِيطَةٌ بِالكَافِرِينَ
and definitely * will envelop such disbelievers إِن
تُصِبْكَ حَسَنَةٌ تَسُؤْهُمْ if you gain success it
grieves them وَإِن تُصِبْكَ مُصِيبًا and if you
face a setback يَقُولُوا قَدْ أَخَذْنَا أَمْرَنَا مِنْ
قَبْلٍ they say we took our matter in
our own hands from before وَيَتَوَلَّوا وَهُمْ فَلِحُونَ
they turn away rejoicing وَلَا يُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا
كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا tell them nothing is going
to happen to us except what Allah has
already written for us of course in the
course of battle of course in the course
of doing whatever it is that you have
to do for the sake of Allah for
the sake of truth there's going to be
ups and downs there's going to be victory,
there's going to be defeat there's going to
be things that you like there's going to
be things that you don't like it's a
whole process, it's a whole journey it's a
real journey but understand that when their their
short-sightedness isolating these cross-sections of these
incidents they say, Aha!
that's precisely who they are short-sighted, their
judgments are immediately based on results that are
short-term immediate gratification is the leading principle
of their lives and so they can't see
anything beyond that, the bigger picture and so
let them know that nothing afflicts us except
what Allah has written for us هو مولانا,
he is our guardian and friend وعلى الله
فليتوكل المؤمنون and so upon Allah alone let
the believers trust even in the difficulty the
loss, the failure that we experience along his
path, that is from him, and there is
good in it somewhere there is خير in
it somewhere, there is opportunity in it somewhere
we are worth it وعلى الله فليتوكل المؤمنون
قل هل تربصون بنا ask them, do you
await for us إلا إحدى الحسنيين anything other
than two beautiful results either we win, and
we win that's beautiful or we fall we
fail and that too is beautiful we gain
either way, we win either way it's martyrdom
on one side and it's victory on the
other حسنيين ونحن نتربص بكم and we await
for you ويصيبكم الله بعذاب من عنده أو
بأيدينا that Allah will send either to you
a punishment from himself or at our hands
see the act that we have taken up,
or the choice that we have made, even
in suffering in the path of that choice
we grow we develop we become stronger to
the point of what will be in your
eyes the greatest failure, which is our death
will be the greatest success in that it's
martyrdom but the attitude that you've chosen your
suffering is going to be meaningless your suffering
is going to be devoid of any growth
your suffering is going to be precisely that,
suffering and nothing more فَتَرَضَّسُوا so wait, إِنَّ
مَعَكُمُ تَرَضَّسُونَ we are going to wait with
you قُلْ أَنفِقُوا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا tell them,
whether you pay the contributions that in fact
that they had to pay willingly or unwillingly
لَن يُتَقَبَّلَ مِنكُمْ it is not going to
be accepted of you after you have made
this choice, now you try to make up
for it not going to work إِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ
قَوْمًا فَاسِقِينَ you are extremely disobedient people وَمَا
مَنَاهُمْ أَن تُقْبَلَ مِنْهُمْ نَفَقَاتُهُمْ and nothing prevents
their contributions from being accepted إِلَّا إِكْسَبْ أَنَّهُمْ
كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَبِرَسُولِهِ except that they have denied
Allah and His Messenger practical Kufr, not with
their tongues they're still claiming to be Muslim
and they will be accepted as Muslims as
such but the Kufr is in practice is
in rejecting or refusing the struggle as for
the Battle of Tabuk it is sifting them
out here in this world for usually the
refusal to struggle being kept voluntary that nobody
can mandate that upon you as such unless
you sign up for it but the sifting
or the judgment takes place or it is
announced in the hereafter by Allah here, exceptional
circumstances it is being it was necessary as
well given that this is going to be
the people who are going to be who
have the fate of the world in their
hands and if they have all the wrong
intents, if they have their heart in the
wrong place it has to be brought out
you don't want these people to be in
the cabinet of Umar رضي الله عنه they're
going to be the source of the worst
worst kind of advice and the worst kind
of fitna and injustice is going to prevail
أَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَبِرَسُولِهِ وَلَا يَأْتُونَ الصَّلَاةَ إِلَّا
وَهُمْ كُسَالَةً and they don't come to offer
Salah except lazily وَلَا يُنفِقُونَ إِلَّا وَهُمْ كَارِهُونَ
and they do not spend except unwillingly that's
their predominant state that they could never Salah
was not meaningful for them why would Salah
be meaningful for you if you already consider
yourself heaven bound if you already consider yourself
chosen, forgiven if you are so much better
than everybody else Salah is just a chore
it is just something that makes no sense
if there is no struggle if there is
no practical difference that you're looking to make
in the world and the difficulties in that
path then the consolation or the reassurance or
the coolness of your eyes that Salah has
to offer it doesn't make a difference because
you don't need that if you have the
sense of entitlement that to you belongs all
good as it is that you're so awesome
then what is it that you're going to
be grateful for for that is what Salah
is you express your gratitude because you understand
and identify that you have been graced that
you have been gifted with blessings so you
will express your gratitude for that or you
will accept that you need help because it's
difficult the struggle that you have to struggle
in your personal lives in your social lives
and so you will turn to Allah for
help and that will make Salah meaningful or
you will acknowledge and identify that this is
I need this spiritual space to reassure myself
to calm myself from the hurt that I've
suffered the pain that I've had to undergo
the difficulty of doing whatever it is that
I'm doing it will make Salah meaningful you
take these three things out and that what
we spoke about in Surah Al-Baqarah this
was the attitude of the Bani Israel that
has become prevalent in the Muslimin Salah is
nothing but laziness any approach to Salah is
like oh my god I want to do
this and they do not spend but unwillingly
it's like they're forced they would rather do
anything else with that money do not let
their riches nor their sons impress you their
power, their wealth for sure Allah wants to
punish them through this just in the life
of this world that this wealth itself and
these children themselves are going to become a
source of regret for them here, not even
in the hereafter here and they depart as
disbelievers so one way of suffering at the
hands of your wealth and your children is
that they make you miserable and you never
have enough and you're just caught up in
them for their own sake and that's suffering
without growth or you enjoy them so much
so much so much that that's all there
is to your life you're at peace tranquil
happy and death comes in and they swear
by Allah that they are definitely with you
of you that they're Muslim, mu'min even and
they're not with you they are a people
who they're terrified If they find a
place of refuge, a cave, or anywhere that
they can hide لَوَلَّوْا إِلَيْهِ وَهُمْ يَجْمَحُونَ They
would have turned to it running heedlessly.
For them nothing is more important than self
-preservation.
They never matured from that animal level of
their existence وَمِنْهُمْ هَيَلْمِزُكَ فِي السَّدَقَاتِ There are
some who criticize you, Ya Rasulullah, concerning the
sadaqat.
One of them said to Rasulullah ﷺ, be
just.
Considering that if he doesn't get it, there's
no justice being done.
فَإِنْ أُعْطُوا مِنْهَا رَضُوا If they are given,
they are happy.
وَإِلَّمْ يُعْطَوْا مِنْهَا إِذَا هُمْ يَسْخَطُونَ And if
they are not given from it, they become
angry.
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ رَضُوا مَا أَتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولًا If
they were happy, if they were content with
what Allah and His Messenger had granted them,
وَقَالُوا حَسْبُنَ اللَّهُ سَيُعْتِينَ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَرَسُولُهِ
And if they had said, Allah is enough
for us, soon Allah would have granted them
more from His grace, and so would have
His Messenger.
إِنَّا إِلَى اللَّهِ رَغِبُونَ For sure we are
towards...
وَقَالُوا حَسْبُنَ اللَّهُ سَيُعْتِينَ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَرَسُولُهِ
Had they said Allah is enough for us,
soon Allah will grant us from His grace,
and so will His Messenger.
إِنَّا إِلَى اللَّهِ رَغِبُونَ For sure we make
our way to Allah with hope, with aspiration.
So this is the preferred statement, that Allah
is enough for us.
What Allah has given us is enough for
us.
And He will grant us more, as will
His Messenger.
We turn to Him with hope.
إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتِ And for sure the صَدَقَات are...
لِلْفُقْرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَالْعَامَلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَالْمُؤَلَّفَةِ
قُلُوبُهُمْ They're for the poor, they're for the
helpless, and those who are employed to administer
or manage the funds, the صَدَقَات.
And those whose hearts need to be won
over.
وَفِى الرِّقَابِ وَالْغَارِمِينَ And for the freeing of
captives or slaves, and for those in debt.
وَفِى سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ And in the cause of
Allah.
وَبْنِ السَّبِيلِ And for the wayfarers, travelers.
فَرِضَةً مِّنَ اللَّهِ As a duty imposed by
Allah.
So this is considered to be the primary
ayah of Zakat.
As to which مسارف, which areas you are
going to distribute your Zakat in.
Even though it begins with صَدَقَات.
Zakat is a form of صَدَقَات, only it
is فَرْض.
فَرِضَةً مِّنَ اللَّهِ Imposed by Allah.
وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ And Allah is Knowing and
Wise.
وَمِنْهُمُ الَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ النَّبِيِ And of them are
those who hurt the Prophet.
وَيَقُولُونَهُ وَأُذُنَ And they say, he's just an
ear.
He's all ears.
All ears meaning, I just made up an
excuse.
And it wasn't true.
But he said, okay.
Prophet?
I don't think he's all that.
I don't think he knows anything.
He's nothing more than a postman.
Just brought the Qur'an, brought the message.
Himself, is he all that awesome?
Is he all that great?
Is he all that worthy of that level
of authority?
I don't think so.
He's like all ears.
He just accepts anything.
He can't even tell that I'm lying.
So should I really owe that kind of
a person who can't even pick that out?
My commitment?
I don't think so.
قُلْ أُذُنُوا خَيْرَ لَكُمْ Tell them, an ear
is better for you.
يُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَيُؤْمِنُوا لِلْمُؤْمِنُونَ He believes in Allah
and he trusts the believers.
He's trusting you.
Even though he knows, you're not all that
trustworthy.
And it is precisely this practice of trusting
you despite your predilection for betraying that trust
which hopefully will make you more trustworthy.
Act more trustworthy and become more trustworthy.
But if it is this attitude that you're
going to reciprocate with, only arrogate yourselves further,
then fair enough.
You'll get what's coming to you.
وَرَحْمَةٌ لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ He is a mercy
for those who believe among you.
وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ And those who hurt
the Prophet of Allah, the Rasul of Allah.
لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَلِيمٌ For them is a painful
punishment.
يَحْلِفُونَ بِاللَّهِ لَكُمْ لِيُرْبُوكُمْ They swear to you
by Allah just to satisfy you.
They will be the strongest in their claims
of Iman.
Swearing by Allah upon it.
وَاللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَحَقُّ أَنْ يُرْبُوهُ And Allah with
His Messenger have a greater right that they
should please Him.
Precisely because they don't have anything else to
bring onto the table in terms of effort,
in terms of sacrifice, in terms of struggle,
in terms of anything outside of themselves that
would verify their claims.
That is when you have nothing to go
by except swearing and then swearing and then
swearing really loudly.
Since you're the only reference for your claim,
you're going to be very loud and bring
in all the oaths.
And that betrays an absence of something genuine,
something outside of yourself, some fruit, some effect
that your Iman should have brought out.
إِن كَانُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ If Allah...
وَاللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَحَقُّ أَنْ يُرْبُوهُ And Allah with
His Messenger have a greater right that they
should please Him.
إِن كَانُوا مُؤْمِنِينَ If they really are believers.
They're trying to impress the community with their
Iman and convince them that they really believe.
Whereas they're better off trying to do the
right things that need to be done so
Allah knows that they believe.
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُونَ Don't they know أَنَّهُ مَن يُحَادَ
بِاللَّهُ وَرَسُولَهُ That whoever opposes Allah and His
Messenger فَأَنَّ لَهُ نَعْرَجْ جَهَنَّمًا That for him
is the fire of * خَالِضًا فِيهَا To
live therein forever.
ذَلِكَ الْخِزِيُّ الْعَظِيمِ And that is the greatest
humiliation.
يَحْذَرُوا الْمُنَافِقُونَ These hypocrites are scared.
أَنْ تُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُورَةً Lest a surah against
them should be sent down.
It consists, this persistence in strong claims of
Iman But this constant insecurity at the same
time تُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ Revealing to them
what is hidden in their hearts قُلِ استَهْزِئُوا
Tell them, you can mock إِنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْرِجٌ
مَا تَحْذَرُونَ Allah is actually going to expose
all of what you fear وَلَئِن فَأَلْتَهَمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ
إِنَّمَا كُنَّ نَخُضُ وَنَلْعَبُ And if you're going
to ask them about what is it that
they're doing No, no, no, we're just playing
around We're having some fun, you know, we're
discussing, playing قُلْ أَبِ اللَّهِ Tell them, with
Allah You're playing around with Allah You're mocking
Allah Useless discussions about Allah وَآيَاتِهِ And His
ayaat وَرَسُولِهِ And His messenger كُنْتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِئُونَ Is
that all of what you were mocking?
لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا قَدْ كَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ So don't
make any excuses You have committed disbelief After
having believed إِنَّ نَعْفُوا عَنْ طَائِفَةٍ مِّنْكُمْ Even
if we pardon some of you نُعَذِّبْ طَائِفَةً
بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا مُجْرِمِينَ We will punish others as
they were criminals So once this inaction sets
in Not doing what is supposed to be
done Claims become louder and louder As the
claims become louder and louder What is to
be done with What is genuinely religious Or
what is the ayat of Allah Or what
Rasulullah said Or what Allah actually demands of
them That becomes just content for their jokes
And mocking around and trivial conversations Nothing more
than that Something that is an object of
play Even if they are engaged in a
religious discussion It has no practical import It
has no practical consequence in their lives And
in terms of their effort It's just intellectual
gymnastics They might as well have been gossiping
They might as well have been talking about
a TV show It was Allah and his
messenger and his ayat They're discussing and talking
about it As if it's a joke That's
not on That is not on All of
that to hide that That كذب That lying
That جُرْم المنافقون والمنافقات بعضهم من بعض Hypocrite
men and women are one from another They're
birds of a feather يأمرون بالمنكر وينهون على
المعروف They will enjoin evil and forbid virtue
That's the effect that is actually emanating of
them وَيَقْبِضُونَ أَيْدِيَهُمْ And they withhold their hands
from spending They're stingy They have no social
welfare in mind They don't want to benefit
anybody else نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَنَسِيَهُمْ They forgot Allah
and so he has forgotten them إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ
هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ These hypocrites, they're defiantly disobedient وَعَذَ
اللَّهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ الْوَالْكُفَارِ Allah has promised
hypocrite men, women and the disbelievers نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ
خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا The fire of * to live
therein forever يَحَسْبُهُمْ That is enough for them
وَلَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ Allah has cursed them وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ
مُقِيمٌ And for them is an everlasting punishment
كَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ كَانُوا أَشْدَّ مِنْكُمْ قُوَّةً Like
those before you who were stronger than you
in power وَأَكْثَرَ أَمْوَالًا وَأَوْلَادًا And were affluent
in wealth and children فَاسْتَمْتَعُوا بِخَلَاقِهِمْ They availed
their share They lived it up فَاسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ بِخَلَاقِكُمْ
So now you have enjoyed your share كَمَا
اسْتَمْتَعَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ بِخَلَاقِهِمْ Just like those
before you enjoyed their share وَخُطْتُمْ كَالَّذِي خَضُوا
And you have engaged in useless vain discussions
as they did أُولَئِكَ حَبِّطَتْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا
وَالْآخِرَةَ So those whose deeds have become worthless
in this life And in the hereafter وَأُولَئِكَ
هُمُ الْخَاصِرُونَ It is them, they are the
losers If your conduct and their conduct Is
not different in any way Then you are
going to be clumped with them أَلَمْ يَأْتِهِمْ
نَبَأُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ Have they received the
news of those before them قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ
وَثَمُودٍ قَوْمِ إِبْرَاهِيمِ وَأَصْحَابِ مَدِّيَنِ وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَاتِ People
of Nu'ad, Thamud, people of Ibrahim, people
of Madinah The cities that were overthrown The
Sodom and Gomorrah People of Lut A.S.
Haven't you heard those stories?
Do you think you can do exactly what
they did And have no consequences Just because
you've claimed Islam أَتَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيْجِنَاتِ Their messenger
from Allah came to them with clear signs
فَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ So Allah never oppressed
them وَلَكَنْ كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ Rather they were
unjust to themselves وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَأُوا
بَعْضُ True believers, men and women Are allies,
protectors, friends of each other يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ
عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ They enjoy righteousness and forbid evil
وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةِ And they establish prayer وَيُعْتُونَ الزَّكَاةِ
And they pay zakah وَيُطِيعُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ And
they obey Allah and His Messenger أُولَيْكَ سَيَرْحَبُهُمُ
اللَّهُ These are the people that Allah will
have mercy on It's not just claims It's
not just oaths It's not just swearing It's
not vain discussions It's actual work that they're
putting in إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ And Allah
is Mighty and Wise وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ
Allah has promised to the believing men and
women جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ Gardens beneath
which rivers flow خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا Living therein forever
وَمَسَاكِنَ طَيِّبَةً فِي جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ And gardens of
everlasting bliss Beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting
bliss وَرِضْوَانٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ And the pleasure
of Allah That is greater ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ
الْعَظِيمُ That is the tremendous success All of
what motivates you In terms of power In
terms of wealth In terms of pleasure Whether
spiritual or sensual It's not that the people
that Allah is encouraging And affirming that they
are true believers It's not that they don't
have those motivations Or they've been killed off
Or they're not human They have all of
those aspirations as well They just have the
sense to delay it sufficiently So that to
appropriately express it here in this world Not
at the expense of the struggle that they
have to put in The meaning that they
have to live for Not at that expense
Other than that They too have that desire
And all of those aspirations And those very
human inclinations They want to rest They want
peace They want to enjoy They don't mind
wealth But it's not at the cost It
doesn't get the better of them It doesn't
dictate their behavior It doesn't overwhelm their lives
That's not all of who they are And
so for that reason They will attain to
the highest Of all of what these areas
have to offer With Allah in paradise As
far as the human-God relationship is concerned
When Allah relates with human beings It doesn't
get any better Than Allah's relationship with Rasulullah
And Allah's relationship with Rasulullah Is of course
his relationship with all of humanity Given that
Rasulullah is a messenger to humanity And in
a sense a representative of humanity Before Allah
as well And there's two defining moments In
this interaction In this relationship of Rasulullah With
Allah One is Mi'raj Of course where
he goes to the seventh heaven And Allah
and the conversations And whatever it is that
he saw And whatever it is that he
experienced And then of course is Laylatul Qadr
Laylatul Qadr being Wahi Coming to Rasulullah ﷺ
Mi'raj being Rasulullah going to Wahi Let
me put it another way Allah coming to
Rasulullah Wahi being how Allah expresses himself Participates
in that interaction And Rasulullah ﷺ going to
Allah Of these two The Laylatul Qadr
Standing out As the celebrated anniversary Of the
revelation of the Qur'an That this incredibly
historical event Of the Qur'an coming to
Rasulullah For the liberation of humanity That's the
night of power What accords that night That
status Is its association with With the Qur
'an And how that night Was
a defining moment in history That the world,
the map of the world The way the
world operates Everything is going to change after
that And with Surah Tawbah We're already seeing
how those changes Are being affected By human
hands and divine will And It's
absolutely incredible And how this yearly recurrence Of
the Laylatul Qadr Is then the defining moment
For the rest of the year Until the
next Laylatul Qadr This representation of the dynamic
And active involvement of Allah In how the
world proceeds And how human endeavors Are
proceeding, progressing, going on And to want to
spend that night with Allah In Ibadah, in
Dua Night which is so instrumental In its
past as well as its future impact You
want to be You want to be in
the right place You want to have a
say You want to get your word in
You want to feel the presence And have
your presence felt You want this night to
matter to you And you want to matter
in this night You ought to recognize the
significance Of this night So it recognizes your
significance And what is to go around In
the next year For you, you put your
word in You've asked for what you want
to ask You've committed to whatever you want
to commit to It's not just another night
You want this night to change the way
Change your fortunes in the year to come
Because decisions are made in this night You
want those decisions to reflect To respond to
you You're not an insignificant Just another
worshipper Who's just going through the motions Whatever
is going to happen is just going to
happen You're far more significant than that So
you want to know You could not have
missed the 21st So I hope that is
helpful Yeah, the ajr of a night worth
thousand months And then the impact
Because we can see The way the Quran
coming to Rasulullah ﷺ And how thousand months
thereafter All the way to the day of
judgment Thousands of months thereafter Are not going
to be the same Rasulullah ﷺ's Laylatul Qadr
When the revelation of the Quran started Nothing
was the same after And we want that
our Laylatul Qadr That we're hopefully able to
Get, to attain Our world is not the
same after Our inner world, our outer world
And they go hand in hand If there
is a significant change in your inner world
Then it should reflect in the outer world
Ya ayyuhan nabi jahidil kuffar wal munafiqeen Prophets
struggle against the disbelievers and the hypocrites Now
remember Rasulullah ﷺ never did qital against the
hypocrites Never It was jihad in a very
different manifestation In a very different expression The
struggle to develop a society And norms such
that the hypocrites don't get their way That
typically people with money, people with power Get
their way in society Now the struggle of
Rasulullah ﷺ and Sahaba is such That their
influence Which inevitably is a very selfish interest
That they propagate within the society Is, it's
disempowered That they're not allowed that That that
does not become the norm That the norm
in the society is not to safeguard their
privilege jahidil kuffar wal munafiqeen So struggle against
the disbelievers and hypocrites waghlud alayhim And be
strict with them Tough love As tough as
it gets wa la'awwahum jahannam Their refuge
is the hellfire Allah is gonna be tough
on them wa bi'sal masir And that is
a most despicable destination yahlifuna billahi ma qalu
They swear by Allah that they didn't say
anything And whatever it is that they're being
accused of They would in their conversations And
couple of people here, couple of people there
When they think it's just them Say stuff
about Rasulullah ﷺ Say stuff about the Sahaba
Say stuff about the strategy of Rasulullah ﷺ
Undermining it, disrespecting it And then when they
would be called to account for it Did
you say?
No, we didn't And they would swear that
they didn't And they did utter words of
kuffar Words of disbelief In surah munafiqoon we
will see the details And they related Rasulullah
ﷺ Words of Abdullah bin Ubayy You feed
your dog and it comes back and bites
you Bites you Who is he saying this
about?
He is telling the Ansar, the Aus and
the Khazraj That you were better off before
these people came You fed them, you gave
them whatever support And it is on the
basis of your support and power and strength
That you gave them That they are now
who they are And they have Now they're
talking back to you Now you don't have
any respect in the society And when he
was called to account for having said that
He said of course I didn't say it
And similar words going around Not just him,
other munafiqeen Within Medina This resentment and hatred
that they have for Rasulullah ﷺ And the
sahaba radhiAllahu ta'ala They make them look
bad Their struggle, their sacrifice, the goodness That
they're spreading in the world, in the society
Abdullah bin Ubayy and his cronies They don't
like that And so they feel a It's
a calling from within Their resentment is calling
them to undermine all of that To re
-impose their significance in the society Their importance
Even spiritual importance And they would say whatever
they have to To secure that position again
وَلَقَدْ قَالُوا كَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ وَكَفَرُوا بَعْدَ إِسْلَامِهِمْ And
they did kufr after having accepted Islam وَهَمُّوا
بِمَا لَمْ يَنْعَلُوا And they intend to do
something that they could never achieve What is
it that they want to do?
They want to disrespect And disempower Rasulullah ﷺ
Even one of them went to the point
of attempting To kill Rasulullah ﷺ On his
way back from Tabuk Rasulullah ﷺ For some
time was separate from the rest of the
group And two of the hypocrites tried to
kill him It was at that point that
Rasulullah ﷺ Entrusted Hudhaifah Or after that incident
Entrusted Hudhaifah with some of the names And
swore them to secrecy That you're not going
to reveal this to anyone Unless of course
maybe there were certain conditions That they would
be revealed Given that the life of Rasulullah
ﷺ is under threat وَهَمُّوا بِمَا لَمْ يَنْعَلُوا
And they tried to do something that they
could never achieve وَمَا نَقَمُوا إِلَّا أَنْ أَغْنَاهُمُ
اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ And they were resentful
for nothing Except that Allah and His Messenger
had enriched them from His favor Is that
what their resentment is all about?
Allah gave them Qur'an Rasulullah ﷺ At
the expense of all comfort and peace in
his own life Brought them the Qur'an
Is that why they hold so much rancor
against him?
فَإِنْ يَتُوبُوا يَكُونُ خَيْرًا لَّهُمْ So if they
repent, it is better for them Even now
Possibility of tawbah Open to them وَإِنْ يَتَوَلَّوا
But if they turn away يُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللَّهُ أَذَابًا
أَلِيمًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ Allah will inflict them
a painful punishment In both this life and
in the hereafter وَمَا لَهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مِنْ
وَلِيُّهِمْ وَلَا نَصِيرًا And no one will be
able to help them anywhere on the earth.
No protector, no help from nowhere on earth.
وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ عَاهَدَ اللَّـٰهِ Of them are those
who promised Allah.
لَئِنْ آتَـٰنَا مِنْ فَضْلِهِ If Allah grants us
from His bounty.
لَنَصَّدَّقَنَّ وَلَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ We will spend in
charity.
We will most definitely be of the righteous
ones.
Again, in that period of suffering, of intense,
desperate suffering.
Where Tawheed becomes khalis for Allah.
Where that reflexive spirituality manifests itself.
The kind of commitments and oaths that we
end up making.
And if Allah saves us from this situation.
If Allah gives us, privileges us.
So many conditions that we put out there.
We want power, popularity, wealth.
And we're kind of not sure if it's
okay to ask for all those things.
And you know, it's for all the wrong
reasons that we may actually want them.
We don't know.
But we justify that by this commitment.
You give me, I give you.
You give me all of this and your
deen and the service of your deen and
spending in the of Allah, sadaqats, a portion
that people will have in my wealth, in
whatever it is that you give me.
How I'm going to help society and make
it a better place.
All of that is going to happen.
And again, these are another set of ayat
that Dr. Israr Ahmed Rahimullah would specifically apply
to the situation of Pakistan.
Where he said that at the time of
the struggle for independence, these kinds of commitments
were made to Allah.
Give us Pakistan and we do all of
this stuff.
لئن آتانا من فضله لنصدقن و لنكونن من
الصالحين We will definitely.
Again, the conviction, the certainty of one's own
iman.
That once I get it, of course I'll
spend, of course I'll give.
There is no question.
Why would I not?
We will definitely become of the salihin.
فلما آتاهم من فضلي Fair enough.
You want to strike a deal with Allah,
Allah accepts.
Allah accepts.
Deal done.
Signed.
Where's the contract?
And Allah gives.
Allah fulfills His end of the bargain.
من فضله From His fadl.
And you know that it's from His fadl.
That it is more than what your hard
work could have gotten you.
And you get it.
بخلو بي They become stingy with it.
Now they're holding back.
Now they have excuses as to why they
can't do all of those wonderful things that
they had explicitly stated that they would.
وَتَوَلَّوْ وَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ And they turned away from
their promise.
And they were averse.
فَأَعْقَبَهُمْ نِغْفَاقًا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ يَلْقَوْنَ How
did Allah respond to this betrayal of the
contract?
Surah Anfal.
Allah intervenes between a man and his heart.
Allah does not allow for you to access
your spiritual capacities.
Your spiritual strength.
What is within your heart is so true
and so divine and how it resonates with
the Qur'an.
How it can relate with Allah.
Allah Himself intervenes in...
No.
How Allah misleads.
So since this contract was with Allah directly
and it was betrayed.
Allah afflicts hypocrisy upon a person.
And if it was a group of people,
a collection of people then as a collective
entity these become their hallmarks.
The hallmarks of hypocrisy.
When they speak they lie.
When they are entrusted with something they betray
that trust.
And whenever they are in an argument they
lose control.
How much of that have we experienced?
As a people, as a nation.
How much of that have we manifested?
As a people, as a nation, as individuals.
How much of that is this hypocrisy thrust
upon us by Allah?
That it would take now...
That's pretty much become a default state.
That if you are quote-unquote successful in
certain career pathways in certain cultures and societies
how these become an inevitable part of your
professional conduct.
And that it is an active struggle just
to get out of that default state of
hypocrisy.
That you become socialized in two.
Talk about inheriting baggage.
فَأَعْقَبَهُمْ نِفَاقًا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ يَلْقَوْنَ So
Allah implanted hypocrisy in their hearts to last
until the day they are going to meet
Him.
بِمَا أَخْلَفُ اللَّهَ مَا وَعَدُوا Because they betrayed
the promise they made with Allah.
وَبِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ Because they lied.
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ استِرَّهُمْ وَنَجْوَاهُمْ Don't
they know that Allah knows their secrets and
their private meetings?
وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَّمُ الْغُيُوبَ And Allah knows everything
unseen.
أَلَّذِينَ يَلْمِزُونَ الْمُطَّوِّئِينَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي السَّدَقَاتِ
وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَجِدُونَ إِلَّا جُهْدَهُمْ Those who taunt
those who believe.
Those who contribute freely as well as those
who find nothing except the wages of their
labor.
The Sahabi who had nothing to give for
Tabuk except nights of labor that he spent
and gathered a pile of dates, a small
pack of dates if you will, saved some
for his family and gave the rest to
Rasulullah ﷺ.
And the Munafiqeen would mock that.
Ah, this is what we're going to win
Tabuk with.
The Romans are going to be so afraid
now.
Oh, we got those dates.
Allah says, no, how dare you?
How dare you make fun of that honest
labor?
As much as Allah detests your insincerity, that
is how much Allah stands up for a
sincere, honest effort, no matter how small in
effect.
No matter how apparently insignificant.
It is huge in the sight of Allah.
فَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنْهُمْ سَخِرَ اللَّهُ مِنْهُمْ They ridicule them,
Allah ridicules them.
Allah will ridicule them.
وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ And for them is a
painful punishment.
استغفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لَا تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ Say, Ya
Rasulullah, whether you ask for forgiveness for them
or you don't.
إِنْ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً Even if you
ask for their forgiveness 70 times.
فَلَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ Allah is never going
to forgive them.
ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ That is because
they did Kufr with Allah and His Messenger.
وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِلْ قَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ And Allah is
not going to guide the defiantly disobedient people.
فَرِحَ الْمُخَلَّفُونَ بِمَقْعَدِهِمْ خِلَافَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ Those who
remained behind celebrated, rejoiced, saying that staying after
Rasulullah ﷺ was a cause for celebration for
them.
وَكَرِهُوا يُجَاهِدُوا بِيَمْوَالِهِمْ وَانفُسِّهِمْ فِي سُبِيلِ اللَّهِ They
detest struggling in the cause of Allah with
their wealth and their lives.
وَقَالُوا لَا تَنْفِرُوا فِي الْحَرِّ And they say
to one another, don't go out in the
heat.
It's too hot.
قُلْ نَارُوا جَهَنَّمًا أَشَدُّ حَرَّ Tell them the
fire of the hellfire is much more intense
than heat.
لَوْ كَانُوا يَفْقَهُونَ Only if they understood.
فَلْيَبْحَكُوا قَلِيلًا So they should laugh little.
وَلْيَبْكُوا كَثِيرًا And they should cry a lot.
جَزَّأً بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ This is their reward
for what they've been doing.
فَإِنْ رَجَعَكَ اللَّهُ إِلَى طَعِفَةٍ مِّنْهُمْ So if
Allah brings you back to a group of
them after the battle of the expedition of
Tabuk.
فَاسْتَأذَنُوكَ لِلْخُرُوجِ They will ask your permission to
go out again in other expeditions and other
battles.
فَقُلْ لَمْ تَخْرُجُوا مَعِيَ أَبَدًا Tell them you
can never come with me ever again.
وَلَمْ تُقَاطِلُوا مَعِيَ أَدُوبًا You are never fighting
any enemy with me.
إِنَّكُمْ رَضِيطٌ بِالْقُعُودِ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ You were okay
sitting at home the first time.
فَقُعُدُوا مَعَ الْخَالِفِينَ So now go on, continue
sitting at home with those who sit at
home.
وَلَا تُصَلِّي عَلَىٰ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ مَاتَ أَبَدًا And
do not offer any prayer for any one
of them who dies.
وَلَا تَقُمْ عَلَىٰ قَبَرِهِ Nor stand at his
grave.
إِنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ They denied Allah and
His Messenger.
Again, all of this is practical Kufr.
None of them verbally did Kufr.
None of them verbally rejected Allah and His
Messenger.
All of them were Muslim.
All of them.
Abdullah bin Ubay had passed away prior to
Tabuk.
He died prior to Tabuk.
Rasulullah did pray his janazah at the request
of his son.
Did give him his shirt to use for
a shroud to the distress of Umar r
.a who even voiced it.
Ya Rasulullah, why him?
And Umar was ashamed of standing up to
Rasulullah s.a.w. like that.
Then Quran comes and confirms.
Ya Rasulullah, never again.
And so when somebody would pass away and
Rasulullah s.a.w. would refuse to pray
his janazah people would know.
Okay, he was one of the hypocrites.
وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ And they died while they
were disobedient.
So if Rasulullah s.a.w. with all
his kindness with all his ra'fah, with
all his rahmah which we are going to
talk about tomorrow, now.
If he is refusing in this world to
stand up for somebody is he going to
be any different on the Day of Judgment?
If the attitude is the same the attitude
that lets Rasulullah s.a.w. go and
suffer is not willing to struggle or suffer
in any way for anything that he stood
for.
Is Rasulullah s.a.w. going to stand
for us on the Day of Judgment or
against us?
Are we going to be humiliated?
I mean, imagine the humiliation of the person
who has passed away and Rasulullah s.a
.w. said, no, I'm not praying for him.
I'm not allowed to pray for him.
Allah has forbidden for me to pray for
him.
And even if I did pray for him,
it would make no difference to him.
Imagine that humiliation.
وَلَا تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَأَوْلَادُهُمْ وَلَا تَقُومْ عَلَى قَبْرِ
إِنَّهُمْ كَفَرُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ They
denied Allah and His Messenger and they died
while they were disobedient.
وَلَا تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَأَوْلَادُهُمْ Do not let their
wealth nor their sons impress you.
Again, their power, their wealth, no.
Don't fall for it.
Everyone falls for it.
You don't have to fall for it.
You shouldn't have to fall for it.
إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُوا اللَّهُ وَيُعَذِّبَهُمْ بِهَا فِي الدُّنْيَا Allah
wants to punish them through these in the
life of this world.
وَتَزْهَقَ أَنفُسُهُمَّهُمْ كَافِرُونَ And wants that they should
depart, that they should die while they are
disbelievers.
وَإِذَا أُنزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ وَنَفَرُ السُّورَةُ Whenever a surah
is revealed, أَنْ آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ Asking them to
believe in Allah.
Every ayah, every surah comes with a demand
to believe in Allah.
Two believers.
يَا أَيُّهُا الَّذِينَ آمِنُوا آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ Oh you
who have believed, believe in Allah.
I think we missed that when we were
talking about Surah Nisa.
You who have believed, believe in Allah.
How much more explicit can it possibly get?
وَجَاهِدُوا مَعَ رَسُولِهِ And to struggle with the
Prophet of Allah.
اِزْتَأْذَنَكَ أُولُو الطَّوْلِ مِلْهُمْ The wealthy ones from
among them ask you for exemption.
It is totally understandable if somebody doesn't have
resources, if all of what they're engaged in
is barely enough for them to survive themselves
and for their families to survive.
It's totally understandable if they're incapable or unable.
It's not possible for them to participate, to
do any more.
There's the bare minimum that they can possibly
do.
But those with privilege, those with resources, those
with opportunities, their neglect, that negligence is criminal.
وَقَالُوا ذَرْنَا نَكُن مَعَ الْقَائِدِينَ And they say,
let us be with those who sit at
home.
رَضُوا بِأَن يَكُونُوا مَعَ الْخَوَالِفِ They prefer to
be with those who stayed behind.
وَالطُّبِعَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ And their hearts were sealed.
فَهُمْ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ So they don't understand.
لَكِنِ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ But the Messenger
and those who believed with him جَهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ
وَأَنفُسِهِمْ Struggled with their belongings and lives.
وَأُولَئِكَ لَهُمُ الْخَيْرَاتِ These are the ones they're
going to have the best.
All the good things are theirs.
وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ They're the ones who are
going to attain to success.
That is the supreme triumph.
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله